‘When it comes to gender equality in the workplace, the research on its economic benefits is clear: Equality can boost profits and enhance reputation. Then there’s also the fact that it's more fair’ (Lam, 2015).
This wiki page will look into the background surrounding gender equality, using timelines and wider reading to explore this, and then on proving how this subject then fits under the title of ‘a new trend in management’.
1.2: Defining gender equality in the workplace.
Gender equality is the procedure of distributing resources, programs, decision making and opportunities available equally to both males and females without discriminating individuals on their sex. Whilst addressing any imbalances to either sex based on the benefits available to them (CAAWS, 2013). Subsequently, history supports that women are most commonly the victims of discrimination against gender in the workplace, whereby a person has been treated unevenly in the workplace based entirely upon their sex, rather than just being treated differently (Hibry, Undated). This includes uneven pay, whereby men typically get more than women (Furley, 2015), and unequal opportunities in terms of management position and responsibility (Office for National Statistics, 2013).
1.3: Understanding gender equality in the workplace and how it has progressed.
There are several Acts in this day and age, placed by law, to prevent discrimination against sex in the workplace and to ensure that equality is implemented (HG.org, 2017). However, Demir (2015) depicts that ‘back in the day’ issues concerning gender equality were completely different, where ‘women were seen as inferior to men’ in many areas of life, including in the workplace in Victoria England, and many other locations around that time and later. With Begley (2000, pp. 161) adding that, the separation of the two genders was unprecedented in history, as cultural beliefs towards masculinity and femininity in most countries divided environments, roles and responsibilities based on a person’s sex. With Kostova suggesting that this could be a possible explanation to gender inequality in the workplace and management practices (2010). Moreover, whilst men were forced to cope with the harsh business and industrial world, women were left in the relatively unchanging environment of their homes, typically looking after the house and children (Begley, 2000, pp. 161).
However, understandably not all individuals were happy to be delegated to certain roles based upon their sex, leading to several protests against gender equality in the workplace (Epstein, 2001). Which has successfully lead to a change in culture and environment in terms of gender equality in the workplace over the last couple hundreds of years, and has seen a large increase in the number of females working in managerial roles as strides continue to be taken to eliminate gender inequality from the workplace (Catalyst, 2016). Following that, the text below contains information and shows the process and development of the change in gender equality in the workplace stemming from the 1800’s, up to recent dates.
1.4: History and development of women’s equality rights in the workplace:
(Lobo, 2013)
1888 - The first successful equal pay resolution at the Trade Union Congress is propositioned by the Secretary of the women’s Trade Union League, Clementina Black (Pay Justice, 2014), whilst the ‘match girl’ strike in London was occurring as protests against the dangerous working conditions and unequal pay situated at the Bryant & May factory (Jarvis, 2010).
1914 - ‘The war that brought an influx of women into the workplace’. In 1995, in Cumbria, at the Cleator Mill, protests again occurred by women over unequal war bonuses, whilst the following year the similar protests arose from carriage cleaners at London’s Old Oak Common. With the numbers of protests against discrimination of gender equality in the workplace increasing, more were created as female Tube workers protested over bonuses as action by bus girls brought the city to a literal standstill in the year of 1918 (Jarvis, 2010).
1956 - In Britain, laws introduced to ensure that women teachers and civil servants receive equal pay (Claire, 2016).
1970 - Equal Pay Act is passed, prohibiting the introduction of different pay measures for the same work based on gender due to mounting pressure from the Dagenham strike, coming into power for 1975 (Pay Justice, 2014).
1975 – The Sex Discrimination Act was introduced in order to eliminate discrimination based on a person’s gender in the workplace, allowing equality in terms of pay for both men and women. Under the circumstances of the new Act, situations where ‘men only’ adverts appeared for job adverts, could now count as sex discrimination (Crystal, 2016).
1975 – Protection to pregnant women is enforced by the Employment Protection Act, meaning it is now illegal to sack a woman because of their pregnancy (Silvera, 2013).
1976 - The EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission) is created to implement the 1975 Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act. Campaigned to deal with all gender related matters in Britain (Pay Justice, 2014).
1999 - Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act was introduced to improve the issues still occurring with gender equality (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012).
2012 - Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 replaces the ‘Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999. Introduced to strengthen the legislation to improve and promote equality for both women and men in the workplace (Australian Government, 2017).
1.5: Demonstrating the change, how far things have come.
Although there have been struggles in the past, Krawcheck (2016) believes that the business world in finally changing for the better in terms of gender equality and that there are now far more opportunities and incentives for women in the workplace, whereby America is close to eliminating inequality based on sex all together. In addition, the BBC News (2014) webpage claim that top UK companies have undertaken a ‘culture change’, which has seen the number of women in decision making roles on the boardrooms increased. With Britain’s former trade minister Lord Davies, taking this further in a statement he made in 2014, whereby he said that ‘women now accounted for 20.7% of board members in the FTSE 100 firms, up from 12.5% in 2011’, indicating an increase of 8.2% in the space of just two years. The report also recognised that there was ‘growing recognition’ of the benefits of equality to business, as the goal was set by Davies for women to occupy a quarter of all board positions by 2015.
Furthermore, Elmer (2015) has identified that strides to increase the number of females on corporate board seats is trending across Germany, France, Norway and other European countries have been taken, as companies are to meet mandated quotas until women fill 30 to 40 percent of all board seats. With women’s rights advocates suggesting that increasing the number of women in charge, whereby strides are clearly being taken, will result in improvements of the running of the business, along with an increase in profit (Elmer, 2015). Ross emulates this notion by also stating that whilst gender equality in the workplace was seen decades ago as ‘the right thing to do’, for fairness issues, currently it’s ‘the smart thing to do’ for the benefit and success of businesses (in Elmer, 2015). Elmer also pinpoints the financial change in women’s circumstances over recent decades, as mentioned previously, culture tailed men to be the ‘breadwinners’ (2015), whilst women typically looked after the house and children (Begley, 2000, pp.161), whereas in recent years around three wives in ten now earn more than their husbands (Elmer, 2015). Furthermore, women are now the only ‘breadwinners’ in 3.9 million couples worldwide (Elmer, 2015), which according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data is around twice as many female only breadwinners compared to 1985 (in Elmer, 2015).
1.6: Development of the female employment rates ages 16-64 from 1971-2013 in the UK.
(Office for National Statistics, 2013).
The graph from the Office for National Statistics (2013) helps to demonstrate the improvements and development of gender equality, displaying how far things have come and how we are closer to equality than ever before.
1.7: Gender inequality still occurs.
Whilst the legal acts introduced that focus on gender quality have led to improvements within the workplace more that ever before, as demonstrated by the pictures previously (Office for National Statistics, 2013), many still argue that whilst ‘women have made great strides in the workplace.. inequality persists’ (Harvard University, 2016). Furley takes this further by providing comparisons in statistics of cultural change over the last 2/3 decades, whereby as of 1986 85% of men said ‘their work’ was done predominantly or exclusively by men, and no men did ‘women’s work’. Yet, despite the strides that have been taken since then, in 2012 50% of men still said that their jobs were completed by genders of the same sex, and although these figures are presumed to have increased more from 2012 to 2017 (2015), there is still clear movement needed to completely eliminate gender inequality in the workplace (Huffman et al., 2017).
Furthermore, Prosser identifies that whilst women make up for 51% of the UK population, there is evidence to suggest they are not given the same opportunities to participate in highly responsible roles even in this day (2017), with Card et al. stating that women are less likely to work at firms that pay higher premiums to either sex, and are instead typically positioned in low-and middle-skilled working environments. They also go on to document that women still receive just 90% of the business’s specific pay premiums earned by men, whilst making the statement ‘Importantly, we find the same gender gap in the responses of wages to changes in potential surplus over time’ (2015).
To summarise, looking back over history, the effect that culture and tradition had on society left males to be seen as the only contenders for management roles. Whereby it was extremely uncommon for women to be given highly responsible roles, or even wide opportunities in the workplace (Begley, 2000, pp. 161). However, the change in culture within recent decades has changed the perception of women and gender roles, whereby the promotion of gender equality has led to a more fair working and equal environments for women in management practice (Amos, 2016). With the Davies Review Annual Report (2015, pp. 2) adding that there are now more females on the Financial Times Stock Exchange 350 (FTSE) than ever before, as the number of female employees have more than doubled within the space of 4 years from 2011-2015.
2: Is gender equality a new trend in management?
Following on from the discussion of the background surrounding ‘gender equality’, I will now endeavor to explain why gender equality fits into the subtext of ‘a new trend in management’ by using wider research to support how and why it falls under this category.
2.1: How the issue of gender equality could be perceived as being ‘new’:
In accordance to the Oxford University Press, ‘new’ defines as something ‘Produced, introduced, or discovered recently or now for the first time; not existing before’ (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). Whilst Webster also offers the verdict that new is something that has recently come into existence, having been known, seen or used for a short period (2017). Following that, one aspect that is evident is that gender equality in the workplace is certainly not new, as the timeline shown previously proves that issues surrounding the topic started at the latest in the 1800’s (refer to section 1.4). However, many, including Huffman et al. (2017) still argue that equality in the workplace currently has not been met. Therefore, Jourova propositions that whilst it is clear strides are still being taken by organisations to ensure that equality is reached, whilst the process of creating an equal environment is still being practiced and implemented, the topic is still new. This is because she suggests the issue is yet to be resolved, therefore reporting that there are several new challenges and amendments that businesses must make in the oncoming years in order to provide a fairer, more equal working environment for all employees (2016, pp.6-13).
2.2: How gender equality could be perceived as being a ‘trend’:
Anaesth et al. depict that a trend can be described as a ‘General direction in which something is developing or changing’ (2015), with the Cambridge University Press adding that a trend in relation to the business environment is a change in the way a business is developing or operating (2017). Kebhaj et al. suggests that when it comes to the issue of gender equality it is currently 'trending' around organisations, as they are mostly keen to implement a fair working environment for all individuals within the business, to ensure success and equality, with the acts and rules that have been developed contributing to this (2016, pp. 4-9). Furthermore, Mitchell emulates this by stating that nowadays, businesses want to be perceived as promoters of inequality and diversity, because if they are recognised as not supporting equality, they will receive a negative reputation which will therefore result in competitive disadvantage (2003). Furthermore, the Pew Research Centre (2015) suggest that opportunities for women to enter leadership roles is also trending (2015) which as a result has meant that it is becoming increasingly common for women to have an influence on management practice (BBC News, 2014).
These new trends in management practice suggest that the world is clearly progressing the gender equality topic and women’s development in the workplace, and although the issue has not been resolved yet, both women and men have and are continuing to make significant improvements towards on closing the gap (Kebhaj et al., 2016, pp. 42).
2.3: Examples of gender equality trending thought organisations:
An example of the implantation of gender equality trending around organisations is Apple’s recent announcement that they have reached a new pay equality scheme, meaning that all employees that do the same job will be paid evenly, as well aiming to provide even training and job opportunities (Worstall, 2016).
L’Oeal is yet another example of a company that gender equality is trending within, however from a different angle to most, as they have introduced a new challenge involving the aim to attract more males into employee positions, as they only make up 31% of all positions within the company, so are therefore largely outnumbered by female staff (Bargeo, 2016). This drive was created by L'Oreal to try and reach gender balance throughout the organization, as they stated that even though there are largely more women to men employees they still face the same gender balance issues as any other company (Bargeo, 2016). This means that, as Bargeo states, they must have a proactive policy to attract women in some occupations where they are traditionally under represented (and the same for men); ensuring that both genders have equal career opportunities and access to positions with high responsibility within the company (2016).
2.4: Research to suggest gender equality is seen as a management practice:
In accordance to the Operations Evaluations Department the lengths and adaptions that managers have to go to in order to ensure gender equality is applied in the organisation, dealing with the subject of new concepts and practices can be classed as a management practice. This is due to the fact that that managers may have to adapt their management style in certain departments, in terms of ensuring that equal opportunities for both genders to apply for higher roles are guaranteed, whilst making sure that equal pay is based on roles in the company, not on an individual’s sex (2011, pp.1).
2.5: What companies must do to provide a gender equality based working environment.
Prosser (2017) helps to identify some key steps that an organistaion should take into consideration on their path to overcome gender inequality in the workplace, and the possible improvements that need to be made through management practice. Which are as follows:
Organisations/employers should review, and if needed renew their policies and procedures to ensure equality.
Review HR policies to ensure that men and women are given equal opportunities, making sure that employees are treated in accordance of their ability instead of their gender.
Senior leaders have a large influence on a company’s culture, therefore they must fully support the gender equality agenda.
Provide training on gender awareness and sex discrimination to minimize gender bias.
Organisations could participate in external campaigns to raise awareness about gender equality, whilst supporting internal and external women’s networks to support their female employees.
‘Reviewing job descriptions and person specifications, diversifying attraction techniques and revising how the organization works with recruitment agencies’, to encourage women to apply for vacant posts.
Senior leaders can take action to address the absence of women in their company in senior roles.
Whilst monitoring possible harassment and bullying.
2.6: Summary.
To summarise, Jourova (2016, pp. 9-12) proves that gender equality in the workplace is still a ‘new’ trend in management, as there are still new procedures being produced, and amendments made by organisations in order to eliminate inequality, with evidence provided within the examples used on Apple (Worstall, 2016) and L’Oeal (Bargeo, 2016)
demonstrating that this such 'new' issue is trending. Coupled with my agreement with the Operations Evaluations Department (2011, pp. 1) that gender equality within the workplace can be described as a management practice, in my opinion there is therefore no doubt that gender equality is a new trend in management.
Anaesth, J., Gibbs, N.M., and Gibbs, S.V. (2015) 'Misuse of 'trend' to describe 'almost significant' differences in anaesthesia research', British Journal of Anaesthesia, 115 (3), pp. 337-339.
Card, D., Cardoso, A, R., and Kline, P. (2015) ‘Bargaining, Sorting, and the Gender Wage Gap: Quantifying the Impact of Firms on the Relative Pay of Women’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131 (2), pp. 633-686.
Demir, L, C. (2015) ‘The Role Of Women In Education In Victorian Indian.’ Journal Of Educational And Instructional Studies In The World, 5 (2), pp. 55-59.
Epstein, B. (2001) ‘What Happened to the Women’s Movement’, Monthly Review; New York, 53 (1), pp. 1-13.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (2014) EBRD- Gender Equality Works. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=misYmpr925o (Accessed: 09 February 2017).
Huffman, M, L., King, J., and Reichelt, M. (2017) ‘EQUALITY FOR WHOM? ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND THE GENDER GAP ACROSS THE GERMAN EARNINGS DISTRIBUTION’ H.R Review, 70 (1) pp. 17-35.
(HERizon, 2017)
Gender Equality: A New Trend in management?
1: Gender equality, a new trend in management.
‘When it comes to gender equality in the workplace, the research on its economic benefits is clear: Equality can boost profits and enhance reputation. Then there’s also the fact that it's more fair’ (Lam, 2015).
1.1: What will this wiki page do?1: Gender equality, a new trend in management.
1.1: What will this wiki page do?toc
1.2: Defining gender equality in the workplace.
1.3: Understanding gender equality in the workplace and how it has progressed.
1.4: History and development of women’s equality rights in the workplace:
1.5: Demonstrating the change, how far things have come.
1.6: Development of the female employment rates ages 16-64 from 1971-2013 in the UK.
1.7: Gender inequality still occurs.
1.8: In Summary.
2: Is gender equality a new trend in management?
2.1: How the issue of gender equality could be perceived as being ‘new’:
2.2: How gender equality could be perceived as being a ‘trend’:
2.3: Examples of gender equality trending thought organisations:
2.4: Research to suggest gender equality is seen as a management practice:
2.5: What companies must do to provide a gender equality based working environment.
2.6: Summary.
Bibliography.
Table of Contents
This wiki page will look into the background surrounding gender equality, using timelines and wider reading to explore this, and then on proving how this subject then fits under the title of ‘a new trend in management’.
1.2: Defining gender equality in the workplace.
Gender equality is the procedure of distributing resources, programs, decision making and opportunities available equally to both males and females without discriminating individuals on their sex. Whilst addressing any imbalances to either sex based on the benefits available to them (CAAWS, 2013). Subsequently, history supports that women are most commonly the victims of discrimination against gender in the workplace, whereby a person has been treated unevenly in the workplace based entirely upon their sex, rather than just being treated differently (Hibry, Undated). This includes uneven pay, whereby men typically get more than women (Furley, 2015), and unequal opportunities in terms of management position and responsibility (Office for National Statistics, 2013).
1.3: Understanding gender equality in the workplace and how it has progressed.
There are several Acts in this day and age, placed by law, to prevent discrimination against sex in the workplace and to ensure that equality is implemented (HG.org, 2017). However, Demir (2015) depicts that ‘back in the day’ issues concerning gender equality were completely different, where ‘women were seen as inferior to men’ in many areas of life, including in the workplace in Victoria England, and many other locations around that time and later. With Begley (2000, pp. 161) adding that, the separation of the two genders was unprecedented in history, as cultural beliefs towards masculinity and femininity in most countries divided environments, roles and responsibilities based on a person’s sex. With Kostova suggesting that this could be a possible explanation to gender inequality in the workplace and management practices (2010). Moreover, whilst men were forced to cope with the harsh business and industrial world, women were left in the relatively unchanging environment of their homes, typically looking after the house and children (Begley, 2000, pp. 161).
However, understandably not all individuals were happy to be delegated to certain roles based upon their sex, leading to several protests against gender equality in the workplace (Epstein, 2001). Which has successfully lead to a change in culture and environment in terms of gender equality in the workplace over the last couple hundreds of years, and has seen a large increase in the number of females working in managerial roles as strides continue to be taken to eliminate gender inequality from the workplace (Catalyst, 2016). Following that, the text below contains information and shows the process and development of the change in gender equality in the workplace stemming from the 1800’s, up to recent dates.
1.4: History and development of women’s equality rights in the workplace:
(Lobo, 2013)
1.5: Demonstrating the change, how far things have come.
Although there have been struggles in the past, Krawcheck (2016) believes that the business world in finally changing for the better in terms of gender equality and that there are now far more opportunities and incentives for women in the workplace, whereby America is close to eliminating inequality based on sex all together. In addition, the BBC News (2014) webpage claim that top UK companies have undertaken a ‘culture change’, which has seen the number of women in decision making roles on the boardrooms increased. With Britain’s former trade minister Lord Davies, taking this further in a statement he made in 2014, whereby he said that ‘women now accounted for 20.7% of board members in the FTSE 100 firms, up from 12.5% in 2011’, indicating an increase of 8.2% in the space of just two years. The report also recognised that there was ‘growing recognition’ of the benefits of equality to business, as the goal was set by Davies for women to occupy a quarter of all board positions by 2015.
Furthermore, Elmer (2015) has identified that strides to increase the number of females on corporate board seats is trending across Germany, France, Norway and other European countries have been taken, as companies are to meet mandated quotas until women fill 30 to 40 percent of all board seats. With women’s rights advocates suggesting that increasing the number of women in charge, whereby strides are clearly being taken, will result in improvements of the running of the business, along with an increase in profit (Elmer, 2015). Ross emulates this notion by also stating that whilst gender equality in the workplace was seen decades ago as ‘the right thing to do’, for fairness issues, currently it’s ‘the smart thing to do’ for the benefit and success of businesses (in Elmer, 2015). Elmer also pinpoints the financial change in women’s circumstances over recent decades, as mentioned previously, culture tailed men to be the ‘breadwinners’ (2015), whilst women typically looked after the house and children (Begley, 2000, pp.161), whereas in recent years around three wives in ten now earn more than their husbands (Elmer, 2015). Furthermore, women are now the only ‘breadwinners’ in 3.9 million couples worldwide (Elmer, 2015), which according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data is around twice as many female only breadwinners compared to 1985 (in Elmer, 2015).
1.6: Development of the female employment rates ages 16-64 from 1971-2013 in the UK.
(Office for National Statistics, 2013).
The graph from the Office for National Statistics (2013) helps to demonstrate the improvements and development of gender equality, displaying how far things have come and how we are closer to equality than ever before.
1.7: Gender inequality still occurs.
Whilst the legal acts introduced that focus on gender quality have led to improvements within the workplace more that ever before, as demonstrated by the pictures previously (Office for National Statistics, 2013), many still argue that whilst ‘women have made great strides in the workplace.. inequality persists’ (Harvard University, 2016). Furley takes this further by providing comparisons in statistics of cultural change over the last 2/3 decades, whereby as of 1986 85% of men said ‘their work’ was done predominantly or exclusively by men, and no men did ‘women’s work’. Yet, despite the strides that have been taken since then, in 2012 50% of men still said that their jobs were completed by genders of the same sex, and although these figures are presumed to have increased more from 2012 to 2017 (2015), there is still clear movement needed to completely eliminate gender inequality in the workplace (Huffman et al., 2017).
Furthermore, Prosser identifies that whilst women make up for 51% of the UK population, there is evidence to suggest they are not given the same opportunities to participate in highly responsible roles even in this day (2017), with Card et al. stating that women are less likely to work at firms that pay higher premiums to either sex, and are instead typically positioned in low-and middle-skilled working environments. They also go on to document that women still receive just 90% of the business’s specific pay premiums earned by men, whilst making the statement ‘Importantly, we find the same gender gap in the responses of wages to changes in potential surplus over time’ (2015).
#GenderPayGap Tweets
1.8: In Summary.
To summarise, looking back over history, the effect that culture and tradition had on society left males to be seen as the only contenders for management roles. Whereby it was extremely uncommon for women to be given highly responsible roles, or even wide opportunities in the workplace (Begley, 2000, pp. 161). However, the change in culture within recent decades has changed the perception of women and gender roles, whereby the promotion of gender equality has led to a more fair working and equal environments for women in management practice (Amos, 2016). With the Davies Review Annual Report (2015, pp. 2) adding that there are now more females on the Financial Times Stock Exchange 350 (FTSE) than ever before, as the number of female employees have more than doubled within the space of 4 years from 2011-2015.
2: Is gender equality a new trend in management?
Following on from the discussion of the background surrounding ‘gender equality’, I will now endeavor to explain why gender equality fits into the subtext of ‘a new trend in management’ by using wider research to support how and why it falls under this category.
2.1: How the issue of gender equality could be perceived as being ‘new’:
In accordance to the Oxford University Press, ‘new’ defines as something ‘Produced, introduced, or discovered recently or now for the first time; not existing before’ (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). Whilst Webster also offers the verdict that new is something that has recently come into existence, having been known, seen or used for a short period (2017). Following that, one aspect that is evident is that gender equality in the workplace is certainly not new, as the timeline shown previously proves that issues surrounding the topic started at the latest in the 1800’s (refer to section 1.4). However, many, including Huffman et al. (2017) still argue that equality in the workplace currently has not been met. Therefore, Jourova propositions that whilst it is clear strides are still being taken by organisations to ensure that equality is reached, whilst the process of creating an equal environment is still being practiced and implemented, the topic is still new. This is because she suggests the issue is yet to be resolved, therefore reporting that there are several new challenges and amendments that businesses must make in the oncoming years in order to provide a fairer, more equal working environment for all employees (2016, pp.6-13).
2.2: How gender equality could be perceived as being a ‘trend’:
Anaesth et al. depict that a trend can be described as a ‘General direction in which something is developing or changing’ (2015), with the Cambridge University Press adding that a trend in relation to the business environment is a change in the way a business is developing or operating (2017). Kebhaj et al. suggests that when it comes to the issue of gender equality it is currently 'trending' around organisations, as they are mostly keen to implement a fair working environment for all individuals within the business, to ensure success and equality, with the acts and rules that have been developed contributing to this (2016, pp. 4-9). Furthermore, Mitchell emulates this by stating that nowadays, businesses want to be perceived as promoters of inequality and diversity, because if they are recognised as not supporting equality, they will receive a negative reputation which will therefore result in competitive disadvantage (2003). Furthermore, the Pew Research Centre (2015) suggest that opportunities for women to enter leadership roles is also trending (2015) which as a result has meant that it is becoming increasingly common for women to have an influence on management practice (BBC News, 2014).
These new trends in management practice suggest that the world is clearly progressing the gender equality topic and women’s development in the workplace, and although the issue has not been resolved yet, both women and men have and are continuing to make significant improvements towards on closing the gap (Kebhaj et al., 2016, pp. 42).
2.3: Examples of gender equality trending thought organisations:
An example of the implantation of gender equality trending around organisations is Apple’s recent announcement that they have reached a new pay equality scheme, meaning that all employees that do the same job will be paid evenly, as well aiming to provide even training and job opportunities (Worstall, 2016).
L’Oeal is yet another example of a company that gender equality is trending within, however from a different angle to most, as they have introduced a new challenge involving the aim to attract more males into employee positions, as they only make up 31% of all positions within the company, so are therefore largely outnumbered by female staff (Bargeo, 2016). This drive was created by L'Oreal to try and reach gender balance throughout the organization, as they stated that even though there are largely more women to men employees they still face the same gender balance issues as any other company (Bargeo, 2016). This means that, as Bargeo states, they must have a proactive policy to attract women in some occupations where they are traditionally under represented (and the same for men); ensuring that both genders have equal career opportunities and access to positions with high responsibility within the company (2016).
2.4: Research to suggest gender equality is seen as a management practice:
In accordance to the Operations Evaluations Department the lengths and adaptions that managers have to go to in order to ensure gender equality is applied in the organisation, dealing with the subject of new concepts and practices can be classed as a management practice. This is due to the fact that that managers may have to adapt their management style in certain departments, in terms of ensuring that equal opportunities for both genders to apply for higher roles are guaranteed, whilst making sure that equal pay is based on roles in the company, not on an individual’s sex (2011, pp.1).
2.5: What companies must do to provide a gender equality based working environment.
Prosser (2017) helps to identify some key steps that an organistaion should take into consideration on their path to overcome gender inequality in the workplace, and the possible improvements that need to be made through management practice. Which are as follows:
2.6: Summary.
To summarise, Jourova (2016, pp. 9-12) proves that gender equality in the workplace is still a ‘new’ trend in management, as there are still new procedures being produced, and amendments made by organisations in order to eliminate inequality, with evidence provided within the examples used on Apple (Worstall, 2016) and L’Oeal (Bargeo, 2016)
demonstrating that this such 'new' issue is trending. Coupled with my agreement with the Operations Evaluations Department (2011, pp. 1) that gender equality within the workplace can be described as a management practice, in my opinion there is therefore no doubt that gender equality is a new trend in management.
Bibliography.
Amos, J. (2016) Changing Gender Roles. Available at: http://www.bodylanguageexpert.co.uk/changinggenderroles.html (Accessed: 04 February 2017).
Anaesth, J., Gibbs, N.M., and Gibbs, S.V. (2015) 'Misuse of 'trend' to describe 'almost significant' differences in anaesthesia research', British Journal of Anaesthesia, 115 (3), pp. 337-339.
Australian Government. (2017) Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. Available at: https://www.wgea.gov.au/about-legislation/workplace-gender-equality-act-2012 (Accessed: 01 February 2017).
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2012) Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012. Available at:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/legal/submissions/2012/20120412_women.pdf (Accessed: 2 February 2017).
Bargeo. (2016) An encounter with Jean-Claude Le Grand, SVP Talent Development and Chief Diversity Officer at L’Oreal. Available at: http://www.eveprogramme.com/en/20647/companies-have-become-the-spearheads-of-the-movement-for-gender-equality/ (Accessed: 05 February 2017).
BBC News. (2014) 'More women than ever' on top UK company boards, says report. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26738686 (Accessed: 01 February 2017).
Begley, S. (2000) The Stereotype Trap. Medline: Newsweek.
CAAWS. (2013) What is Gender Equality? Available at: http://www.caaws.ca/gender-equity-101/what-is-gender-equity/ (Accessed: 01 February 2017).
Cambridge University Press. (2017) Business Trend. Available at: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/business-trend (Accessed: 05 February 2017).
Card, D., Cardoso, A, R., and Kline, P. (2015) ‘Bargaining, Sorting, and the Gender Wage Gap: Quantifying the Impact of Firms on the Relative Pay of Women’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131 (2), pp. 633-686.
Catalyst. (2016) Statistical Overview Of Women In The Workforce. Available at: http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workforce (Accessed: 28 January 2017).
Davies Review Annual Report. (2015) Improving the Gender Balance on British Boards. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482059/BIS-15-585-women-on-boards-davies-review-5-year-summary-october-2015.pdf.
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